Science News

Joint US-European solar mission ends

Jul 1, 2008, 11:24 GMT

Washington - After more than 17 years of studying the Sun, a joint effort by the US and European space agencies is set to end Tuesday. The Ulysses solar mission has far outlived its predicted life span, but declining power to propel the craft has prompted the European Space Agency and NASA to abandon the project. Ulysses was designed to study the solar wind and gave scientists a more complete and complex view of the particles emitted into the solar system by the Sun. It provided the only views so far of the Sun's polar regions, sent scientists views of Jupiter and measured deep space dust in the solar system. 'Over its long life, Ulysses redefined our knowledge of the heliosphere and went on to answer questions about our solar neighbourhood we did not know to ask,' NASA scientist Ed Smith said in a statement. The craft was launched by the space shuttle Discovery in October 1990 and was propelled toward Jupiter, where the planet's pull shot it into position orbiting the Sun. The original mission was extended in 1994 and has since faced problems as its radioactive power generator, which produces its own fuel, breaks down. It has now lost about one-third of its power and scientists have been forced to turn off various instruments to conserve energy. They predict a key fuel line will soon freeze due to the power shortage, rendering the craft useless. Having completed nearly four orbits of the sun, it's not clear what will happen to it. Ulysses has an average speed of 56,000 kilometres per hour and has logged more than 8.6 thousand million kilometres.

View blog reactions

Latest Headlines in Science

Talkback

There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)

Latest from M&C Blogs

Musharraf exits the Pakistani stage as storm clouds gather - Global Eye on August 20, 2008 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

A new cold war? Missile defence deal draws Russian reaction - Global Eye on August 18, 2008 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (32) | TrackBacks (0)

South Ossetia: Winners, losers, hypocrites and incompetents - Global Eye on August 13, 2008 7:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (25) | TrackBacks (0)

Upside-down House - The World in Pictures on August 4, 2008 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Church of our Lady in Dresden, Germany - The World in Pictures on August 4, 2008 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Giant Orange - The World in Pictures on July 15, 2008 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Science

Science News

Joint US-European solar mission ends

Latest Headlines in Science

Talkback

Latest from M&C Blogs

Similar articles

In Monsters and Critics

Corporate

The Fine Print